This invention relates to paint applicators, and more particularly to a paint applicator useful for painting railings and picket fences, and a paint wiping apparatus for wiping the paint applicator upon extraction from a paint can.
Although there are numerous types of paint applicators, certain painting surfaces provide difficulties to painting. By way of example, iron railings are difficult to paint with standard paintbrushes or rollers. The ornamental curvatures of the railing including curvilinear sections of general S-shapes with spirals are most awkward to paint. Frequently such iron railing include closed or open circle configurations which are impossible to reach with standard rollers.
In addition to the difficulty in reaching these awkward small grooves and curved shapes, the iron railings present difficulties in that there are two perpendicular surfaces which require painting, both of which are quite small. The iron railing has the front facing surface which is normally in a common vertical plane. This surface must be painted in addition to the inside surface which forms the curves and grooves.
A somewhat similar problem is presented when trying to paint a picket fence. Typically, a picket fence construction is in the form of horizontal railings on which are attached spaced apart vertical picket strips. In painting the fence, all of the surfaces must be covered. While a roller can reach the front facing surface, it is almost impossible to use the roller for the small sides of the pickets as well as the intermediate portion of the railing between adjacent pickets. A paintbrush can be used however it is a tedious task because of the numerous surfaces that must be covered, all of which are perpendicular to each other.
An additional problem that arises with paint applicators is to wipe off the excess paint upon removal of the paint applicator from the paint can. Normally, the paint applicator is inserted into the can and after it is saturated with paint it is extracted from the can. Since normally excess paint will be dripping from the applicator, the applicator is normally wiped against the upper rim of the paint can. While this can remove some of the paint, it is quite inefficient since the paint applicator is typically flat and the rim of the paint can is curved. Therefore, an inaccurate match occurs and not all of the paint can be wiped from the applicator.
Additionally, when wiping the paint applicator against the rim of the can, a lot of the excess paint accumulates in the rim and will fill the grooves about the upper surface of the can. When replacing the cover onto the can, the paint that now sits in the grooves splashes over the outer edge of the can leaving a messy can and frequently marring the support surface on which the can has been placed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,079 there is described a paint applicator by the inventor of the present application. In that patent there is described a paint applicator having two mutually perpendicular surfaces available for painting iron railings. The two surfaces meet along a longitudinal line. Longitudinally extending from one of the sides there is a projecting finger which can be used for insertion into the grooves of the iron railings. While such paint applicator has been found useful and quite an improvement over previous paint applicators, it has been found to be somewhat awkward in actual use. Since the projecting finger extends from one edge in the same longitudinal direction as the joining line of the two surfaces, it therefore requires extraction of the paint applicator from the rail and reinsertion of the applicator in a direction perpendicular to its normal movement. As a result, there is a great amount of manipulation required in order to use the paint applicator and painting of the iron rails cannot be achieved with a continuous stroke. Additionally, while the projecting portion is useful for painting inside the curvilinear sections, it will not paint the facing surface of the rail around the curvilinear portions. Additionally, the paint applicator of the prior patent is not useful for picket fences and other difficult to paint surfaces.